Episode 23 – Breaking News
"Tomorrow's the day I finally get them, Tom."
"You say that every week."
The porcupine stopped in the middle of the hall, and gave a quick glare at the hefty tapir. "Well, this time I mean it."
"You say that every week, too, Charles."
The porcupine cringed. He had been trying to get an interview with the Zoo Rangers for the last five or so months, but every time he could never make it in time.
"Listen, when this happens tomorrow, the same thing is going to happen." The tapir said. "You're going to freeze up, or get scared, and then they'll vanish before you get the courage back up."
"NOT THIS TIME!" He shouted. "This time, Charles Spikerton is going to get an exclusive interview with them!"
The tapir rolled his eyes as the porcupine continued. "I'm going to get another ratings boost, and finally get that promotion!"
"Listen, Charlie." The tapir continued. "I know I'm just your camera man, and I don't really have a say in what you do, but…" He paused. "I think if we keep this up, we're going to get killed."
"What do you mean?" The porcupine asked. "Like, killing it in the ratings?"
"No, I mean actually die." He continued. "Remember that big robot invasion a couple weeks back?"
"Yep." Charles said. "That was a major boost, remember?"
"A bunch of those robots tried to kill us." Tom finished. "And then there was that body swapping thing."
"Okay, don't remind me about that one. That one was just weird."
"Basically, I don't think anything good will come out of this." The tapir finished. "But I'm just suggesting that, you're the boss, you make your own decisions. Night."
He walked down the hallway, leaving the porcupine alone. He stood in the middle of the hall, thinking about it. Maybe he was letting his job get in the way of his life too much. Maybe he was…
Suddenly, there was someone else walking down the hall. He looked down the hall, seeing Peter Moosebridge, the face of ZNN, approach.
"Hey, Charles." He said, stopping to talk to the porcupine. "How's everything going?"
"Fine, I guess." Charles said back, a bit dismissive.
"Well, you look tired." The moose said. "You should go home and get some rest, should be busy tomorrow, it is a Monday, after all."
The moose walked off down the hall. Charles grinded his teeth. That's why he needed the promotion, to get rid of Moosebridge's smug, smarmy, well groomed face. Just because he was a field reporter meant that the moose never treated him with any respect, always subtly mocking him.
He gave a sneer as soon as the moose had disappeared down the dark hall. "Stupid Moosebridge." He muttered. "I'll show him who the real reporter is. He just sits on his ass all day, doesn't even go out and get news himself…"
He started down the hall, still muttering to himself. He opened the doors, and walked through the parking lot, headed for his tiny car. He searched his pockets for his keys. Always trouble.
His ears jolted a little. There was footsteps behind him. Someone was coming towards him. He searched for his keys a bit faster. He found them, and fumbled with them as he tried to get them in the lock.
Something placed a hand on his spines.
"Hello there."
He turned around. Lighting the empty parking lot up like a light was a massive figure, at least compared to him. Dressed from head to toe in shining armor, and a bright red visor that shone its light down directly on him.
"I am Long." It said. Charles opened his mouth, prepared to scream. "If you scream, I will kill you on the spot." The monster created a massive fireball in his palm, threatening the porcupine.
"What do you want?" He asked, quietly.
"I want to make a deal." Long said, kneeling down. "I heard you want to become more powerful, correct?"
"I mean, getting a promotion is like becoming more powerful…" Charles said.
"Well, I can give you that." Long said. "I can give you anything you want."
"Anything?"
"Anything." He said. "Well, as long as you can give me some… information."
"I can give you whatever you want." Charles said. "As long as I get to ruin Moosebridge, I'll give you whatever."
Long let out a slimy laugh. "I like you." He pulled out an object, a small statue, brandished with what looked like a porcupine. He handed it to Charles.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked.
"Jab it into your body, as hard as you can." Long explained. "Then, your power will awaken."
The porcupine gulped, and then jabbed the bottom of the statue into his chest. He started to convulse, twist, and grow into a new monstrous form.
"I feel… amazing!" The new monster said.
"Excellent." Long said, standing up to face the monster. "You can do whatever you want, but tomorrow, you will get me my information."
"Yes… sir."
"Good. Now, get to work… Marashiya."
The moose jolted up from his incredibly soft bed. A noise had pierced through the night, startling him out of his slumber.
He looked to his bedside table, the phone was ringing.
He picked it up, the display showing an unknown number. He answered.
"Who is this?"
There wasn't an answer right away. But there was heavy breathing. "how did you get this number?" Moosebridge yelled into the phone.
"Moosebridge." The voice on the other end started. It sounded artificial, like someone putting on a voice, except it was someone doing it really well. "Your time has come to an end. You will pay."
"Who is this!?" The moose asked again, in a much harsher tone.
There was only the sound of white noise at the end.
The moose grunted, and hung up. He then quickly dialed in another number.
"Hello, police?"
"Man, feels like a long time since we've done anything like this, huh, Carrots?"
"Nick, we were doing police work just the other day."
"I know, but it feels like months."
The fox looked around. Usually, they never got called in on Mondays, but this seemed to be pretty important. They were standing in the middle of the ZNN lobby, around two dozen other officers there as well.
Some of them they recognized from the station, but most of them seemed to be from other precincts from across the city.
"So, why are we here again?" Nick asked.
"How do you not know?" Judy retorted, a bit surprised.
"Well, you woke me up by yelling that we had to go to work, so I got ready and you drove me here."
She stared at him blankly for a second. "Oh, yeah, sorry." She apologized. "Well, last night, Peter Moosebridge got a threatening call, so he got the police to keep guard of the station while he does the morning report."
The fox nodded. "So, we're basically keeping watch for any crazy weirdo who walks in."
"Pretty much, yeah."
The fox walked over to a nearby seat, and laid down on it. "Seems like a waste of time for us to be here." He said. "We're not exactly body guard material."
Judy hopped up next to him. "Yeah, I thought it was weird too." She said, shrugging. "But Bogo really wanted us to be here for some reason."
"Well, it is a Monday." The fox joked. His face suddenly turned a bit worried. "Wait, you don't think…?"
She glanced back at the fox as he jolted up. "What?"
"What if Bogo knows?"
The two stared at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.
"How in the world would Bogo know?" Judy asked, still laughing a bit.
"Yeah, nobody else has been able to figure it out unless we told them." Nick continued.
They calmed down. "Mm, we should probably be taking this a bit more seriously." Judy said. "Assassination isn't a joke."
"It's probably just some weird fan who got mad at him for something he said on Growler." Nick said. "Popular public figures get this kind of stuff all the time."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you never heard about how Gazelle got a bunch of death threats during the pred scare stuff?"
"Ugh, seriously?" She said, a bit disgusted.
The fox nodded. "Real terrible stuff there." He said. "But it was just words, nothing ever came of it, obviously. I'm betting whoever it was that threatened him won't even show up."
"I mean, that makes me feel a little better." She said. "But it is still Monday, we need to stay alert."
"Got it."
"Alright, everyone!" A voice yelled out. The two looked over the back of their seat, it was a raccoon in a suit. "The morning report starts in a few minutes, so we need half of you down here to guard the entrance, and half of you to go up and guard Moosebridge."
Nick quickly raised his paw. "Looks like we have a volunteer!" The raccoon said.
"Nick, seriously?" Judy whispered.
"Haven't you ever wanted to see how they do this show?" He asked. "It's not every day you get a chance to appear on TV!"
"Nick, we show up on TV every Tuesday." She said.
"Yeah, but that's not really us, is it?"
She shook her head.
Soon enough, her, Nick, and around ten other officers, were planted around the studio. Moosebridge and his co-anchor, Emily Snow, were sat at a large stand in front of a green screen, and read off some notes as assistants readied them.
During this, the raccoon came back out. "All of you stay quiet, alright?" He said to the police officers. "Don't want the show getting interrupted unless it absolutely needs to."
"Got it, boss." Nick started. "Want us to go get you a coffee, too?"
There were laughs from the other officers as the raccoon gave Nick a glare. He turned to the two anchors as the assistants exited the scene. "Alright, you're on in three, two…" He motioned with his paw, signalling that the camera was on.
"Good morning Zootopia, its another wonderful summer day…"
"Well, this isn't as interesting as I thought it was going to be." Nick whispered.
"At least we get to watch something besides a door." Judy responded, the fox nodding in agreement.
As the report continued, Judy's ears twitched at something. She heard footsteps from the floor above, and continuing upwards. They were fast, frantic sounding, like whoever was making them had to get somewhere fast.
But, they seemed to be heading for the roof, considering how far away they were getting.
"Nick, I think I-"
She tried to finish, only for their Zoolizers to suddenly go off. "CUT!" The cameras cut out as the raccoon stomped over to them. "WHAT WAS THAT!? I TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET!"
"Well, we, uh…" Judy tried to explain.
"We forgot to turn off our alarms." Nick lied. "We are incredibly sorry about that." The rabbit nodded along.
"Just… don't do that again." The raccoon said.
"Oh, we won't, we won't even be here." Nick continued. "Because we're both going to… use the bathroom."
The raccoon looked back, shocked and surprised. "At the same time?"
"Yes, at the same time."
The two quickly rushed off, much to the confusion of everyone in the room. "Those two are weirdos." The raccoon said, heading back to the camera. "Alright, three, two…"
The two dashed up the stairs, pausing as they entered an empty room. "So, the Zoolizers went off." Nick said, a bit out of breath. "Where do you think the monster is?"
"The roof." Judy said. "I heard someone running up there before they went off."
"You have amazing ears."
"Thank you."
"Why would the monster be here though?" He asked, the two starting to run off again.
"Maybe the monster is the assassin!" Judy suggested.
"Why would the monster want to kill Moosebridge?" Nick asked as they ran up the stairs. "That seems incredibly petty for these guys."
"That's something to worry about after we get it out of here!"
The two quickly transformed, bursting through the door to the roof. Standing on the other side of the rooftop shadowed under the large neon Z, was the monster.
It heard the door slam open, and turned to face them, startled. It had a large porcupine face on its chest, which blended into its spike covered shoulders. The rest of its body was covered in what looked like black leather, belts of it wrapped around different parts of the body, some covered in spikes. Its head resembled a mask of spikes, the only part not covered in the spikes was the eyes and mouth.
"Augh!" It let out, stumbling back a bit. He pointed towards them. "What are you two doing here!?"
"Uh, we get warned when there's a monster attack?" Red started. "Pretty useful."
"Really?" The monster seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before focusing back on the Zoorangers. "So, guess we're gonna fight?"
"Looks like it." Blue said, the two pulling out their weapons.
The Rangers dashed at the monster, who awkwardly tumbled out of the way as they tried to strike. He rolled across the ground, and awkwardly climbed to his feet. "H-hold on for a second!" It shouted, raising its hands. "Just give me a second…"
The monster started stretching out, bending down, and other stretching techniques. It looked like it was trying to get used to moving around.
"What's he doing?" Blue asked.
"I dunno, calisthenics?" Red said, shrugging.
After a few minutes of that, the monster finished by twisting its head around. "Alright, I'm good." It said, before quickly snapping into a fighting pose.
The porcupine monster dashed forward, leaping into the air to deliver a chop to the ground. The two sidestepped out of the way, and prepped their weapons as the monster let out a spinning attack, arms outstretched.
The force of the blow knocked them both back, even with the weapons blocking it. The monster seemed to stumble as it recovered from the spin. Using this opening, the two leaped in, striking with their blades at the same time.
The force of the attack knocked the monster forward, onto its face. It started to get up, awkwardly.
"Yeesh, what's with this guy?" Red asked, swinging his blade onto his shoulder. "Its like you've never fought before."
"Yeah, aren't you beast guys supposed to be good at martial arts?" Blue chimed in. "The last two we fought were."
"Did the pig actually do any martial arts?" Red asked, the rabbit shrugged in response.
"This is just a…" The monster started, climbing to its feet and turning back to them. "A warm-up! Yeah! I'll kick your butts in no time!" It clenched its fists, and thrust its arms forward, causing a storm of needles to spray from its shoulders.
The sudden spray of spikes shot around them, none managing to directly hit. The burst of sparks created by the spikes knocked the two to the ground.
"Guess he does kind of know what he's doing." Red said, climbing to his feet.
Blue quickly hopped back to her feet, and readied both daggers. "Alright, spikey, let's see how you deal with these cuts?" She quickly dashed forward, and jumped into the air, delivering a quick series of slashes to the monster's chest-face.
The force of the blows knocked the monster back. "I wish he taught me how to use this thing!" The monster shouted. "Oops, probably said that too loud!"
The monster thrust its arms forward again, firing off another round of spikes towards the rabbit. She deftly ran out of the way, a trail of the spines flowing behind her. She quickly shuffled her knives out for her blasters, leaping into a roll and rapidly firing them.
The monster stopped firing as the blasts hit, leaving him stunned for a moment. Using this opportunity, Red pulled out the Vickscannon, and fired a blast at the monster. The force of the fireball knocked the monster back into one of the giant neon letters, shattering it.
The monster flopped back to the ground, unsteadily landing on its feet. It shook off the pain, and let out a bestial growl. Suddenly, its arms began to glow, and became enveloped by the light. Once it faded, the monster's arms were now suddenly massive spikes.
"Now this is more like it!" It said, dashing towards the fox. He quickly pulled up his sword, blocking as the monster swung its spike hand down onto him. The force of the blow knocked red to the ground, leaving him vulnerable as the monster raised the arm.
"RED!" Blue yelled out. In an incredibly fast motion, she leaped into the air, delivering a kick to the monster's side. It tumbled back, and to the edge of the roof.
"Saved my tail there, Blue." The fox said as she helped him up.
The monster let out a loud growl. "You jerks ruined my chance!" It shouted at them. "Now I have to wait for the late-night show." It quickly scraped its spiked hands together. "But I'm not out yet, I can still beat you guys up and make the boss happy!"
It rushed forwards again, thrusting one of its arms down at the fox. He quickly dodged out of the way as the spike pierced through the concrete.
It pulled the spike out, and began rapidly thrusting the spikes towards him. He held up his sword, which blocked the rapid hits, each of which pushed him back a bit.
Blue leaped out from behind Red, and slashed down at the monster's actual head with both her daggers. It stumbled back, letting Red take charge and swing his own sword into the monster's stomach.
The monster let out another growl, and smacked the fox aside. "NEEDLE SWORD MOUNTAIN!" It shouted. It began rapidly thrusting the spikes into Blue's body at incredible speeds. The force of it lifted her up into the air. It delivered the final blow, knocking the rabbit across the roof, leaving her unconscious.
"NO!"
The monster laughed as its hands returned to normal. "That was great!" It said to itself. "Now, I have business to deal with." It continued, turning to the downed fox. "If you want to fight me again, keep this in mind! You'll have to deal with MARACASHI!"
The fox stared at it, trying not to laugh.
"Wait, that's not it…" The monster said, trying to remember something. "Oh, it's MARASHIYA! You're gonna have to deal with Marashiya again!" It quickly leaped into the air, and off the side of the building.
Nick untransformed, and ran over to Judy, who had untransformed after hitting the ground.
He lifted her up. She was still breathing, but she was weak.
"I don't want to go through this again…"
The porcupine rubbed at his chest as he entered the building. "Hey Charles!" Greeted the antelope receptionist. "You doing alright?" She asked, noticing that he seemed to be in pain. He walked past her without saying anything, he had somewhere to be.
He headed into the elevator, and hit the basement floor button. It was silent for a minute, before the elevator stopped, the doors sliding open.
He headed into the dark expanse below the building, twirling a key ring on one of his digits. The dark room lead to a hallway, lined with doors.
"So, is this the place?"
He let out a shrill yelp as the voice startled him. He turned around, to see the incredibly imposing figure of Long. "Um, yes, this is the place." He answered back, trying to get some composure. "The records should be around here somewhere."
The two moved down the hallway, Long either producing a wave of heat around him that caused Charles to sweat, or his intense existence itself causing the sweat.
They went to the very back of the hall to find the door. Charles stuck the key into the lock, and slowly opened it. Inside was a room, lined with filing cabinets.
"If you're looking for information, this is the best place for it." Charles said as they walked in. Long's presence seemed to light the room up instantly. "We, uh, have news articles all the way back to nineteen-fifty in here."
"Excellent." Long said, looking around. "I'm sure I can find something of use here."
"So…" The porcupine started, incredibly terrified. "Why didn't you…" He took a gulp. "Tell me that the Zoo Rangers would attack me?"
"You're the one who's been following them for the better part of a year." Long said, not even looking at him. "I feel it should have been safe to assume that they would come."
"I mean, I guess, I just…"
"I have a second part to our deal."
"What?" Charles said, surprised. "I've given you your information, that means I-"
Long quickly spun around, and smacked the porcupine into one of the cabinets. It was crushed under the force of it, papers from inside fluttering around.
"You are my minion." Long said, his visor glowing with an intense heat. "You will do as I say. And what I want you to do is… provoke, the Zoorangers."
Charles fell to the ground, and rubbed his head. "'Provoke'? What does that mean?"
"Rough them up. Make them angry." Long explained. "Your Needle-Sword Mountain technique would be perfect for that."
"Oh, well," Charles started. "I already hit the Blue Ranger with that!"
"Good, but not enough." Long said. "Go practice your techniques. Once you master them, you should be able to destroy them, and the one you hate. Go."
"Alright, uh, Master." The porcupine quickly ran out of the room, leaving Long alone.
He turned to the cabinets. He only needed recent news. He went over to the one marked as the current year, and opened it. He perused through it, and a few other years. All in all, he found three articles he found interesting.
The first was an article from a month ago, about how the Department of Defense was planning something to deal with the monster attacks. He had heard nothing about this before, but it interested him.
The second was from around a year ago, about a mysterious treasure chest that was unearthed. He looked at the picture in the document, which looked incredibly familiar to him. It could come in use.
Finally, he found an article form a few months back, around the time he first attacked the city with a monster. There wasn't much interesting to it, aside from a few amusing mistakes, like calling Makirika "Mantor". But there was one interesting part. The first and third articles shared a similar name in them.
Herder.
Long laughed as he set the articles on fire. "I wonder how long I'll let that rodent play his game." He asked himself, before bursting into flames and vanishing.
"Why weren't you there!?"
"I was asleep!" The wolf yelled from the other side of the phone. The fox had it on speaker mode, placed on the coffee table.
It had been many hours since the monster had attacked. In fact, it was already dark outside. And Judy still hadn't woken up. He was worried, and frustrated.
"Doesn't your thing go off when a monster shows up?" He yelled at Max.
"Yeah, but I don't have it on me all the time!" Max yelled back. "That thing very uncomfortable to sleep with."
"If you had been there, Judy would be fine!" He yelled.
"Nick, I get it." He started. "You're frustrated because you think this was your fault, and you're taking it out on me."
"Wow, its amazing how well you get to know me in a few months."
"But this isn't either of our faults." He continued. "It isn't Judy's fault either. Instead of bickering with each other, we should focus on figuring out what the monster is trying to do. Give me some details."
"Apparently, it called up Peter Moosebridge last night and threatened him." Nick explained. "Then we managed to chase him away before anything could happen."
"That seems very… personal, for a monster." Max said, surprised.
"That's what I thought." Nick said. "Reminds me of the time we fought Bellwether a few months back."
"You what?"
"Yeah, there was the time she turned into a wolf monster and tried to kill us." He continued. "Could be something like that."
"So, someone's using monster powers to get revenge on Moosebridge for something?" Max said, confused.
"Seems like it."
Suddenly, the fox heard a crashing sound from Judy's room. "Hang on, I'll be back in a sec."
He rushed into the room, seeing Judy, laying on her back, legs crossed. The lamp on her nightstand had been knocked over. "Oh, great, you're awake!" he said, cheerfully. "We have a mystery to figure out, so…"
"I'm gonna go out." She said, getting up off the bed. Her tone was a bit rougher than usual. "Where's that cool jacket you have?"
"Why do you want my jacket?" He asked, watching her kick open the door to his room. "HEY! Get out of there!"
He followed her into his incredibly messy and dark room. She headed over to the closet, and picked through his various tacky shirts.
"You have an awful dress sense, you know that?" She said, rather bluntly. She picked out the red jacket, and flung it on. It fit her, surprisingly enough, though it hung around her torso a bit more than on Nick. "This thing's the only good shirt in there, Slick."
He blinked a few times in confusion, watching as the rabbit picked up a pair of pointed sunglasses from his dresser. She put the glasses on, and left the room.
"Are you feeling alright?" Nick asked as he trailed behind her.
"Never felt better!" She said. "I feel like a new rabbit!"
"Where're you going, anyway?" He asked as she opened the door.
"I dunno, seedy places." She said, frankly. "See you, foxface!" She quickly dashed down the hall.
Nick ran over to the phone. "What the heck's going on?" Max asked, having heard at least part of the conversation.
"I don't know," Nick started. "But Judy's acting weird. I have to go catch her, so-"
Through the open window was the sound of a fight. "HEY!" Yelled a voice, as the sound of a motorcycle driving off echoed through the air. "THAT RABBIT JUST STOLE MY BIKE!"
Nick let out a massive, massive sigh. "Meet me here ASAP, we have to go look for Judy."
"Pretty bad day, huh?"
"Yeah."
"You're on in ten, Mr. Moosebridge!"
"I'll be out in a moment!"
The moose sat in his dressing room, staring at the mirror in front of him. He was still incredibly nervous, not something he usually was. Being watched by millions of people was something he could handle, but the threat of an unknown assailant was a much tougher thing to cope with.
He applied the last touches of wax to his antlers, and groomed up his face. He was looking good.
He stepped out into the hallway. Despite him having done this thousands of times, this time it felt different. It was dark, as it was normally, but he could feel a sense of dread.
He headed down the hall, until he heard something. Footsteps. He quickly spun around. There was no one in the hall besides him. He turned back around, and headed for the studio.
Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in his neck. He thought he felt something, but when he felt it, there was nothing. "Ugh, stupid bees." He said, heading down the hall.
He entered into the studio, and headed for his seat.
"Alright, we're going on air in three minutes!" The raccoon said to all the employees. "Everyone get ready!"
A handful of assistants ran up to Moosebridge and Snow, adding the final applications.
"We're on in three, two…"
"Welcome to the late night ZNN report." Moosebridge started. "I'm Peter Moosebridge."
"And I'm Emily Snow." Started the co-anchor.
"Tonight, we have…" The moose paused, clutching the back of his neck. His eyes suddenly turned a glowing purple.
He clutched his hooves, and slammed them into the desk. "I've had enough of this shit!" He yelled, knocking a mug off the table.
"What the hell are you doing?" Emily shouted as the moose got up. He proceeded to punch her in the face, knocking her to the ground.
"Stop the camera!" The raccoon yelled, the cameraman frantically trying to shit it down. "What in the name of GOD has gotten into you, Peter!?" The raccoon continued to yell walking over to the pissed off moose.
Moosebridge gave a quick kick to the raccoon, knocking him to the ground. "I'm outta here, losers!" He yelled, quickly storming out of the room.
The moose stomped out of the building, and into the warm night. "Never liked working there anyway!" He said to himself. There was a crash behind him.
He turned around to see a large, spiky figure walking towards him. "Well, looks like everything's going perfectly!" it said, rubbing its hands together.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Well, I'm not someone YOU care about, Moosebridge." It said. "But I'm really afraid I'm gonna have to use you for something."
"What?"
"Close your eyes, this will only hurt for a bit."
The rabbit pulled the motorcycle into a parking spot outside of a bar. The Lost Traveler's Tavern, in the middle of the seediest part of Sahara Square. It wasn't exactly what you'd call a respectable business, run down and dirty. It was the epitome of a biker bar.
It was exactly where she wanted to be.
She kicked the door open, and walked inside. As expected, there were hushed chuckles as she hopped up to a bar stool.
There was some awkward silence the elephant bartender walked up to her. He was a bit rough looking, but didn't seem to judge her. "What'll you have?" He asked.
Before she could say anything, the rhinoceros next to her spoke up. "Probably carrot juice!" He laughed.
The rabbit growled, and placed the sunglasses on the counter. "Are you making fun of me?" She said.
"Personally, I don't think a cute little bunny like you should be here." The rhino said. "Only toughies are allowed in this building this late."
"Not really, but whatever." Mumbled the bartender.
"You wanna test me?" Judy said, standing up on the stool. "You wanna go, asshole?"
"I bet I can squish you in five seconds flat, bunny." The rhino said with a laugh. "I don't really think it'd be worth my time."
"Really now?" Judy started, climbing up onto the counter itself and stepping in front of the rhino. "I bet you're just all talk. I bet you're just scared a 'cute little bunny' can kick your ass to Tundra Town and back!"
"Hey, I-"
"I've beaten up guys ten times stronger than you, bud." She continued, gradually growing more angry. "So, let's go, and I'll prove how shitty you are."
"I actually would really not like to hurt you." The rhino started.
Before he could say anything else, Judy leaped into the air and delivered a swift kick to the rhino's face, knocking him to the ground.
"You wanna go now!?"
The rhino snorted, and got up. Judy put up her dukes. This was exactly what she was looking for.
He raised a massive fist into the air, and slammed it down onto the counter. Judy leaped out of the way as it hit, the wood bursting into splinters.
She leaped down to the stool next to the rhino, and sent a jumping kick into the rhino's gut, knocking him back again.
"Try not to get blood on the walls." The bartender said, nonchalantly. "Its hard to clean that stuff up."
Judy hit the ground as the rhino stumbled backwards. The rest of the bar patrons fell silent, watching the two prepare to fight.
The rhino raised its giant foot into the air, and tried to bring it down onto the rabbit, who again ducked out of the way. She quickly sprung to a handstand, and sprung up, delivering a double footed kick to the rhino's side.
The surprising force of the blow knocked the rhino back, and tumbling onto a nearby table. It was crushed under his weight, glass shattering and his back being covered in soup.
"Thanks, asshole!" The jackal seated there yelled, his chair being the only thing not crushed.
The rhino tried to get back to his feet, but Judy leaped through the air, and delivered a flying kick directly to his face. She was pretty sure she saw a few teeth fly out, and definitely saw some blood splatter against the ground.
"Man!" She said, delivering another kick to the rhino's face. "I sure am just a 'cute little bunny'!" She laughed, and continued to stomp on the rhino's head until he was unconscious.
She quickly glanced around. "So, who wants to go next?"
There was an air of nervousness, as nobody spoke up.
"No one?" She said, not exactly surprised. "Well, someone's gonna."
She cracked her knuckles.
"So, what are we looking for, exactly?" Max asked.
The two had been driving through the city for a good few hours, trying to find the bike Judy had stolen. The rider had given them the license plate number, KR123.
"Trust me, I'll know it when I see it." Nick said from the passenger's seat. Of course, there wasn't much else to go off of. They had gone through almost every district's seediest parts, places Nick knew very well, and only had Sahara Square left.
Soon, the two's eyes locked on an ambulance outside of a shady looking bar. They parked in front of it to watch. The medics were hauling out tons of unconscious, or at least heavily injured, bodies.
"Think we should check that out?" Max asked.
Nick had been to the tavern a few times, mostly during late jobs in Sahara Square. The place was usually pretty rough, and every time he went there a fight broke out (None of which were his fault, by the way), but seeing medics there was definitely a sign that something wasn't right.
"Oh, definitely."
The two managed to get in to the bar, the only mammal left inside being an elephant, who seemed to be the bartender.
"Hey, D, been a while?" Nick greeted.
"Nick Wilde?" He said, surprised. "Didn't think you'd come here again after joining the force."
"Probably wouldn't if I wasn't trying to solve something." He said.
The elephant glanced at Max. "Is that your partner?"
"No, I'm just trying to help out." Max said. "So, what's up with all the people being hauled off to the hospital?"
"Big fight happened a bit ago." He explained. "Wouldn't expect a rabbit to be that strong."
The two glanced at each other. "Did you just say rabbit?" Nick said, worried.
"Yeah, it was a rabbit." The elephant picked up a pair of sunglasses, and tossed them towards the two. "She left these behind, if it helps."
Nick examined the sunglasses, they were definitely his. He looked back up at the elephant. "Did she order anything before she left?"
"Just some carrot juice."
The two walked out of the establishment, Nick sliding the glasses into his pocket. "So, Judy went to a bar and beat up twenty mammals?" Max said, surprised.
"Seems like it." Nick responded.
"That doesn't seem like a thing she would do." Max continued. "Like, at all, ever."
"I think something happened to her when we fought the monster." Nick started as they entered the car. "It hit her with an attack where it went like…" The fox quickly mimicked the porcupine monster's moves, rapidly jabbing his paws forwards in a haphazard manner.
Max chuckled a bit. "Seriously?"
"What, you expect me to explain that with words?"
The wolf rolled his eyes. "So, this is a porcupine monster?" He asked. Nick nodded in response. "I've seen this, this happened in an episode of Zoo Rangers Jungle Fury. One of the monsters used an attack to turn one of the rangers into a…"
"An asshole?"
"Well, more of a juvenile delinquent." He said. "But Judy's an adult, so I guess she just turned into an asshole, yeah."
"So, she's just going around beating people up?" He sighed. "We gotta stop her before she actually kills someone."
The Zoolizers began emitting a loud beep, which was only overtaken by the fox's frustrated screaming.
He slammed his head on the dashboard a few times. "GOD! DAMN! IT!" He yelled with each slam. He stopped, and rubbed the top of his head in pain. Probably a bad idea to do that. "Why does this have to happen now!?"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Max said, placing a paw on his shoulder. "The monster isn't far from here, there's a chance Judy might show up!"
The fox's face lit up. "And if she does, we can talk some sense into her!" He finished, the wolf nodding along. "Alright, Wolfsbane, let's get going!"
The monster watched as the pal faced monsters hopped around through the sand, smashing nearby car and building windows. "That's it, boys!" It yelled, perched on top of a flipped car. "Keep gathering that fear!"
Soon, the monster saw a car screech through the sand covered road, the sand spraying through the air. Out of the car climbed the two Zoorangers, Red and Silver. "Alright, spikes, we're here to stop you for good!" Yelled the fox as they approached the crouching monster.
The monster stood up, and hopped off the car. "Who the hell are you guys?" It said, rather dismissively.
The two Rangers looked at each other, confused. "You fought me this morning, remember?" Red said.
"I wasn't there, so you wouldn't know who I am." Silver said.
"I've never seen either of you weirdos before in my life." Marashiya said. He quickly moved to a fighting stance. "But if you wanna fight, let's do it!"
He dashed at them as they pulled out their weapons. The porcupine beast quickly performed a double handed chop at both of them, the Rangers quickly blocking it with their blades. They simultaneously knocked the monster back, and jabbed him directly in the stomach.
The monster stumbled back, and quickly thrust its arms forward, firing a volley of spikes towards them. They dodged out of the way, but left the car behind them unprotected.
"HEY!" Silver shouted. "I ONLY HAD ONE PAYMENT LEFT ON THAT!"
The wolf dashed forward, preparing to strike with his blade. Marashiya quickly pulled two spikes out from its shoulders, and held them out in front of the blade, blocking it. Silver pulled back, and the monster quickly jabbed the spikes forward.
Silver managed to block it in time, but not before the monster quickly began thrusting them rapidly. Silver kept blocking, until the monster unexpectedly performed an overhead attack, rapidly drumming on Silver's helmet with the spikes. He then jabbed the distracted wolf in the stomach, knocking him back.
Without missing a beat, Marashiya flipped the spines into the air, and smacked them towards Red, causing an explosion at his feet. The fox fell over, completely surprised.
"He wasn't like this earlier." He said as the two got up. "He was a lot more haphazard."
"Why's he even attacking Sahara Square?" Silver asked. "I thought the ZNN Studio was downtown."
Red shrugged, before the two leaped into the battle together. They slashed at the monster, managing to deal some damage. It gave a quick chuckle, before beginning to spin around. The porcupine dashed forward, still spinning, becoming like a spiky tornado.
Marashiya headed towards Red first, who quickly knocked the spiky tornado back. The thing was still spinning at incredible speeds, and flew towards Silver. The wolf knocked it back as well, turning the fight into a tennis match. The monster suddenly stopped, and let out a spray of spikes.
The spikes struck at both their feet, creating a burst of sparks that launched them into the air and onto their backs.
"You guys are lame." Marashiya said, sounding almost disappointed. "I was hoping you could be worth my time, but whatever."
Red slammed his fist into the ground. If Judy was here, they wouldn't be having this trouble, he just knew it.
"So, I'm gonna go back to destroying stuff." The porcupine monster continued. "You two just stay there, for your own good."
As the monster started to walk away, the three of them heard the sound of an engine. The monster turned around, seeing a motorcycle coming towards them.
"What the hell?"
The bike suddenly went into a wheelie, and dashed off the flipped car. It flew through the air, and landed directly onto the stunned Marashiya.
The monster was pounded into the sand by the motorcycle's weight, the machine bouncing off him slightly and skidding to a halt.
"WOO!" Cried the driver, hopping off. It was Judy, transformed into her Zooranger form. "Wasn't that AWESOME!?" She said. She glanced around at the her fallen partners, who were staring at her, completely baffled. "What, did you not see that?"
Red rolled back over, and placed a paw to his forehead. "We did, I just thought we had hope for a minute."
Silver climbed up, and walked over to Blue. "How are you feeling." He asked.
"Never better!" She said, jumping up and punching him in the shoulder. It was an incredibly hard punch, sending him reeling. "Hmm, wuss." She said, dismissively. "Heard the thing go off, which means there's a fight. There is a fight here, right?"
"Yeah, you just ran over the guy we're supposed to fight." Red said, standing up.
"Oh, good!" She said, almost too excited. "Maybe that'll get him angry!"
"She's kind of scaring me." Silver whispered to Red.
"Rabbit!" The porcupine yelled, standing up. What seemed like anger turned to a chuckle. "Man, I like you! Let's go!" It raised its fists, Blue following suit.
She rushed at the monster and leaped into the air, delivering a kick to the monster's head. The monster flinched, but he quickly plucked the rabbit out of the air with a downwards punch.
Blue landed on her feet, and flipped back into the air, rapidly kicking the monster's chest-face. The monster spun around, flicking the rabbit off through the air. She slid across the ground, and pulled out her blasters.
The creature spun towards her, but she rapidly fired at him, the blasts only seeming to deflect off. "Guess I need something tougher!" She chuckled, pulling out a small blue object.
"LET'S MORPHIN'!
GET FIGHTIN'!
DON DON BAM!
BUSTER BOXERS!"
The gloves appeared on her paws, the sound of a bell ringing going through the air. She dashed at the monster, who was still spinning, and landed a powerful punch. Spikes on the monster's body shattered, launching him off.
The porcupine beastman rolled across the ground, and felt at its shoulders. A number of the spikes on his shoulders had been broken off. "Wow, you're a lot stronger than you look." He said. He tensed for a minute, causing new spikes to grow in the broken one's place. The broken ones fell to his feet, Marashiya getting back into an action stance.
Blue was about to dash forward again, but was pulled back by her ear. "Heeey, let go!"
"No way, Blue." Red said, still gripping onto the rabbit's ear. "There's no way you can beat him alone."
"Of course I can, I can handle anything!" She said, punching her fists together. "Just lemme go!"
"Red's right, Blue!" Silver said. "We have to do this together!"
"Wow, this feels weirdly familiar." Red said to himself.
"UGH, FINE!" Blue said, crossing her arms with a huff. "But I get to land the final hit, okay!?"
"Wwwwwwhatever!" Red let out, throwing his paws up. Him and Silver drew their weapons out and stepped next to Blue. "Let's just do this."
Marashiya pulled out two of his spines, and the 4 dashed at each other. Red jumped in first, clashing with the monster's spine weapons, before knocking one out of his hands. He jabbed the blade into the monster's stomach, knocking it back.
Silver followed up, switching his sword to Moon Mode. He whipped the laser blade around the monster, snapping the spines off of his shoulders. He then dashed in, switching it to Sun Mode, and placed the blade on the monster's gut, firing off a burst of fire.
The force of the blast launched the monster back into the turned over car. It got up, actually seeming angry for once. "RINSHI!" He yelled, pointing towards the Rangers. "GET THEM!"
All around them, from nearly every building, hopped out a dozen or so of the pale faced Rinshi, some carrying spears, some not. "Yesss, more guys to beat up!" Blue said, distressingly cheerfully.
She dashed into a crowd of the zombie like monsters, and leaped up, unleashing a hail of punches down on them. In a few moments, a bunch of them had been wiped out. Red and Silver watched in awe as she continued to pummel through the Rinshi.
Though they didn't lose awareness as two of the monsters sneaked behind them. Red chopped right through the Rinshi's spear, and then jabbed through it, causing it to crumble into stone. Silver lashed through the monster easily, and the two went off to cut through even more of the monsters.
In a few minutes, the ground was littered with stone pieces, and not a single Rinshi remained.
"You stupid shits!" The monster yelled, walking forward. "I'm gonna finish you off!" Marashiya thrust its arms forward, firing off a burst of needles towards them.
Blue leaped in, and rapidly punched the stream of spines, preventing any of them from hitting. The monster grunted, and continued to fire the spines. Blue continued to punch, moving forward as she did. She reached the very front of the monster, and leaped into the air.
"PUNCH DELETE!"
She through a straight punch through the monster, a burst of energy launching it off, into the flipped car. The car exploded, and was quickly followed by another explosion. The three watched a small, grey object fly from the explosion.
"Hah, guess we didn't have to solve a mystery after all!" Red said, stepping towards the explosion. "Now, lets see who this guy is."
A tall figure stumbled forward as the explosion cleared. It was Moosebridge, who fell to his knees.
"What!?" All three of them yelled.
"Where am I?" He asked, weakly. He quickly glanced around, spotting the Zoorangers. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We should be asking you that?" Red asked. "Why did you fake being threatened?"
"What?" The moose said. "I didn't do that at all."
The three Rangers looked at each other confused. "Then why were you a monster?" Silver asked.
"I was what!?" He yelled, standing up. "The last thing I remember was feeling something hit me in the back of the neck… then I woke up here."
"Moosebridge being the monster doesn't even make any sense." Blue chimed in, sounding like her normal self. "He doesn't have any motive for doing any of this."
"You're right, he doesn't!" Yelled a voice from behind them.
They turned around, seeing a porcupine holding a smartphone. "Charles?" Moosebridge said, confused.
"Who?" Red asked.
"Oh, I remember him!" Blue said. "He was there during the fight with the mantis guy!"
"I don't remember that at all."
"Of course you don't!" Charles shouted. "No one does! I'm just a field reporter! But I won't be for long."
"What are you talking about, Charles?" Moosebridge asked.
He sighed. "I'm getting you fired, and taking your place."
"What!?" He said, surprised. "How are you going to do that!?"
"See, I got some help from this weirdo guy in armor…"
"Long." Nick whispered.
"Let me become a monster, and using my monster powers, I hit you with a needle that caused you to turn into an asshole on air!" He continued. "Then, I used the thing that turned me into a monster, to turn you into one! Then, I waited for the Zoo Rangers to show up, and I recorded the entire fight. Including when you were revealed, Moosebridge."
"And what exactly is your plan?" Silver asked.
"I'm going to make a scandal, and become the new face of ZNN, like I DESERVE!" He yelled, pounding his chest.
"What did I ever do to you!?" Moosebridge yelled. "I've never done anything to hurt you, I've only treated you with respect!"
"Yeah right!" Charles yelled back. "You always talked about me behind my back, I know you did! No one liked me, no one cared!"
Blue let out a laugh. "Wow, you're crazy." She said, incredibly bluntly.
Red slammed his paws into his helmet. "Oh my god…"
Silver stepped forward, and pointed his blade at the porcupine. "You won't get away with this incredibly petty plot!" He said.
"If you wanna stop me, you have to catch me first!" The porcupine laughed, and quickly dashed off.
"Alright guys, let's go-" Red tried to start, only to be interrupted by Blue making a loud sigh.
"I think I'm gonna go look for more fights." She said, placing her paws behind her head. "See ya!" She leaped into the air, and over a rooftop, leaving the two rangers, and Moosebridge, behind.
Silver went over to the reporter. "Moosebridge, you should head home." He said. "We'll have everything sorted out soon." The moose nodded, and headed off.
"Great, can this day get any worse?" Red asked himself, frustrated. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"We chase after Blue." Silver said, shrugging. "Its better to have a full team in case something happens."
Red nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He said. "I just feel really… worried."
"It's not all terrible!" The wolf chimed in, cheerfully. "We managed to get rid of the monster before it got upgraded, which makes the rest of this pretty easy!"
"Alright, that is pretty good news." The fox said, with a laugh.
The two headed off, chasing off after the rabbit.
Unbeknownst to either of them, in a nearby alley, was a certain golden armored monster. He clutched a small statue in his gauntlet, and stepped out into the moon light. He gave a quick laugh, and tossed the statue into the air.
"Well, I guess I know what to do for some fun." He said. "That rodent better be ready."
Long vanished, leaving only a trail of yellow mist, which swooped through the night sky.
They had been chasing her for ten hours.
Ten hours of running around the city, since they no longer had a functioning car. They ran from one seedy area to another, finding a similar situation each time. A bunch of unconscious bodies, all directly caused by one rabbit.
The stress of the whole situation was starting to take its toll on Nick.
Eventually, though, they had caught up with her. They cornered her in a back alley in the middle of Tundra Town.
"Ugh, can't you guys just leave me be!?" She shouted, stomping one of her feet. "You guys keep ruining this for me!"
"Well, excuse me!" Nick shouted. "We're doing our jobs!"
"Yeah, and if you don't come with us, then we're all going to get fired!" Max continued. He was sounding equally as frustrated with this as Nick was.
"Who cares about police work?" Judy said with a sneer. "Its all so PC, you can't get violent with it!"
"Judy, this isn't like you!" Nick yelled. "Just come back with us, and we can sort everything out."
"If you wanna take me in, you gotta fight me!" She said, starting to hop from foot to foot. "No powers, just you and me, fox!"
The two stared at her, dumbfounded. "Is this seriously happening right now?" Max asked.
"Yeah, yeah it is." The fox quickly raised a paw up. "Excuse us for a moment."
Nick elbowed the wolf in the side, and motioned to follow him. They made it safely out of the rabbit's hearing… well, hopefully she wasn't paying attention.
"I can't do this." Nick whispered.
"Listen, I know she's your girlfriend, but this is the only way."
"No, I don't mean it like that." Nick followed up. "I mean I actually can't fight her. Physical combat was one of my worst subjects at the academy."
Max quickly turned back to Judy, who was thankfully just looking at her phone. "HEY!" He shouted. "CAN I FIGHT YOU INSTEAD?"
"No!" She shouted back. "I just want to fight Nick!"
He quickly leaned back down into the huddle. "Well, there goes that idea." Something suddenly hit the wolf. "Wait, I've seen you fight a whole bunch at this point, what's the deal?"
"No powers, man." He stated. "Without the Zooranger stuff, I'm like a twig in paw to paw."
"Just try it." Max sighed. "Have you ever fought her before?"
"I mean, we had sparring matches a few times." He said. "Boxing matches."
"How did those go?"
"She beat me zero to ten."
"Oh. Well, we don't have much of a choice, so…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He snapped. "I'm just saying that you're going to pay for my hospital bills when this is over with."
The fox walked back up to the rabbit, who slipped her phone back into her jean pocket. "So, you ready to go, slick?"
"Yeah, and don't call me 'slick'."
"Just because I don't like being called 'Carrots' doesn't stop you."
"Whatever."
The rabbit ran up to the fox, and quickly delivered a kick to his ribs, sending him flying across the alley. He slid across the alley, and next to Wolford. "Well, that went worse than I expected."
The fox quickly sat up, and clutched at his chest. One of his ribs was cracked, it wasn't major, but it was hurting like hell.
"Is that how your sparring matches usually go?" Wolford asked, in a tone that probably made it a joke.
"Usually I last a few minutes."
"God, you're weaker than I thought." Judy said with a laugh. "I know, why don't you both take me on, that might be fun!"
"I wasn't very good at paw to paw stuff either." Max whispered. The fox scowled in response.
"We have to be smart about this." Nick said. He glanced around, the alley was mostly empty, aside from a single garbage can. Not much to work with.
"Okay, you go distract her." He started. "You're bigger, so you can probably last more than 20 seconds.
"Then what?"
"You'll see." He grunted as he got to his feet. Not like Judy ever explained her plans, they usually worked.
Max sighed, and stepped up towards the rabbit. "Oh, you guys got something clever going on, right?" Judy guessed. "Doesn't matter, I'll probably beat you both anyway."
"You are absolutely insufferable right now." Max said. He quickly started to kick at the rabbit, unable to punch at her due to her much smaller size. She hopped over every attempted hit, and then kicked the wolf in his shins.
He yelped in pain. It felt like his ankle was cracked. When did she get that strong?
He started to slash down at her, no claws. She continued to block with surprisingly fast reflexes, before leaping up and kicking Max in the side of his snout. He wiggles one of his teeth, it had gotten loose.
"This really isn't going well, Nick!" The wolf shouted as he continued trying to hit the rabbit. "And my back is REALLY starting to hurt!"
"Just grab her!" The fox shouted back.
Taking the advice, he swiped Judy up by the ears, lifting her into the air. She flailed around, her small limbs unable to hit anything. "Hey! Lemme go!"
"Not in a hundred years." The wolf said. "Or, at least until you snap out of this."
"Bring her over here!"
The wolf turned to look over at Nick, who was holding a trash can lid. Oh, he got it now.
Max dashed over and quickly threw Judy into the empty can. Nick leaped up and slammed the lid on, proceeding to stand on top of it.
"That should hold her for a bit." He said, relieved. The can suddenly started to shake, and almost instantly tipped over, knocking both of the predators away.
Judy stomped out of the can, looking as angry as she could. "UGH! THAT'S NOT FAIR AT ALL!" She shouted, sounding like a child. She started to stomp over to them. "I'm gonna kick both of your asses so hard you won't be able to sit for a week! I'm gonna make it so you have to eat through straws! I'm gonna…"
The two grounded predators watched as she started to blink, and teeter over. "…I'm gonna take a nap."
She instantly passed out on the spot.
The two got up, Max lifting the rabbit over his shoulder. "Guess all that running around finally got to her." He said.
"Kind of an anti-climactic way for this to end." Nick sighed. "Oh, that sounds like I'm complaining, doesn't it?"
Max nodded.
"Well, let's just get her back to the apartment, maybe we can sort her out there."
"How did you get this footage?"
The raccoon watched the computer monitor, the porcupine standing next to him. The video showed the Zoo Rangers, fighting against a monster. At the end of the video, it showed their own Peter Moosebridge, revealed as the monster.
"An anonymous source sent it to me when I got up." Charles lied. "Looks like Peter's been up to no good, huh?"
"With last night's freak-out, and this…" The raccoon clacked his claws together. "He might be bad for publicity. We need someone to replace him for the reports today, though…"
"Well, I could always try it." Charles interjected. "I am your best on scene reporter…"
"Point." The raccoon said. "We could give it a try, I don't see what could go wrong."
The porcupine pumped his fist. He had finally done it. "So, let's get to work!"
The two headed off to get ready for the morning report. As they left the office, a golden mist flew in, forming into Long. He gave a small laugh. "Well, destroying him is going to be fun."
In a few hours, Charles was seated at the desk, next to Emily Snow. "Nice to see you this morning, Charles." She greeted. "I don't think I saw you at all yesterday."
"Oh, I was doing stuff, not a big deal." He lied. "Just surprised that I'm here right now! Shame about Peter, though."
"I don't know what got into him last night." Emily said. "He was always one of the nicest guys here. You know, he really liked your field reports."
Charles paused for a moment, his heart beating faster. "R-really?"
Emily nodded. "He said that you'd make a fine anchor once he retired. Guess it came a bit earlier than anyone expected." She glanced at the porcupine, who was shuddering. "Are you alright?"
He gulped, and adjusted himself in the chair. "Yes, I am… perfectly fine!"
"Alright, we're on in three, two…"
"Hello Zootopia!" Charles started, suddenly sounding right as rain. "You're probably wondering just what happened with our previous anchor, Peter Moosebridge. Well, this morning, I, Charles Spikerton will give you the full scoop."
"Last night, we received some worrying footage." Emily followed. The footage recorded of the Zoo Rangers played on a screen behind them, the two watching. The footage skipped to the end, to the part where Moosebridge was revealed.
"Moosebridge was transformed into a monster, and caused serious damage to Sahara Square." Charles said. "It is unknown how this happened."
"One wonders why this happened to Mr. Moosebridge at all." Emily said. "But I suppose we won't know until-"
"Oh, I can tell you."
"Who was…?" The raccoon was suddenly kicked across the room by something he couldn't make out. The pig in control of the camera was launched across the room as well.
A cloud of golden mist appeared between the two reporters, and burst into flame. Long was standing where the fire once was.
"I can tell you exactly why the moose was turned into a monster."
"Who in the world are you!?" Emily shouted.
"What are you doing here!?" Charles cried, terrified.
"See, my dumb animal friends, he is not the real monster here." He turned towards Charles, who nearly fell out of his chair. Before he could, Long grabbed him by the shirt, and lifted him up. "This is your real monster!"
He pulled his face in closer to the porcupine, the heat emanating off of Long causing him to sweat. "A worthless, cowardly creature who wanted to ruin someone else's life for his own gain." Long continued. "You transformed the moose into a monster, and tried to frame him so you could take his job. Can you deny this?"
"I-I wasn't in control!" Charles yelled. "It was the monster controlling me!"
"Charles…?" Emily said, confused.
"LIAR!" Long shouted, slamming the porcupine into the desk. "Allow me to show you."
Long pulled out the porcupine statue, and slammed its flat end into the Porcupine. He started to glow, and suddenly transformed into Marashiya.
"NO!" The monster shouted. "We had a deal! I did what you wanted!"
"Did you really think you could trust me?" Long laughed. "And you're still in control." Long said, Marashiya stepping back in fear. "A weak, pathetic fool who doesn't deserve any power he has."
The dragon armored monster flashed a red object. "You don't deserve anything, if I'm being honest."
He tossed the Chaos Badge into Marashiya's midsection, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.
Marashiya quickly began to transform. His face gained an even more mask-like appearance, as the spikes on it straightened out and began to curve forward, resembling a spiked pompadour. His face also gained a pair of built in sunglasses.
Chains began to drop from his body, each with a large spine dangling from them. The porcupine head on his chest changed as well, growing spikes that grew past the monster's shoulders. Its shoulders remained similar, but the spikes became slightly longer.
Spines began to envelop the monster's right hand, forming into a massive spike. The spike suddenly expanded outward, now resembling the barrel of a minigun. The monster stood back up, and laughed.
"Chaos Marashiya." He started. "Back on the streets."
"Wonderful." Long started. "Go cause some trouble."
"Trouble's what I'm best at, man!" Marashiya quickly aimed its gun arm at the front wall of the room, and fired a bunch of needles into it. After a second, the wall burst open, revealing the outside world. The monster ran to the hole, and jumped through it, letting out a cheer.
Long gave a quick glance to the snow leopard, and then vanished in a burst of gold mist. What was left was a horribly confused and terrified news crew.
Max flumped the snoozing rabbit down on the couch. She was snoring incredibly loudly, something that she didn't usually do. Probably related to the personality change.
Nick sat at the kitchen table, still lightly clutching his chest. Still hurting.
"So, do we just wake her up, or…?" Max asked. "She could probably kick our asses again, that wouldn't be fun."
The wolf glanced at the fox, noticing that he was clutching his chest. "You feeling alright?"
"I'm feeling fine." Nick lied. "I'm just worried."
"About what?"
He fell silent for a moment. "What if we can't get her back to normal?" He finally said. "What if she's stuck like this?"
"No, we can sort this out." Max assured him. "This kind of stuff is always sorted by the end."
"But we beat the monster." He said. "And she's still like that. I just don't know, Max…"
"Its not going to be a problem." He said. Max wasn't sure himself at this point, though.
Suddenly, there was a loud yawn. "Man, that was a good power nap!" Judy said, stretching out.
"How you feeling?" Max asked.
"Pretty good, ready to go fight monsters!" She said with a smirk.
"Well, we already beat the monster." Nick let out. "So tough luck."
"Awww."
Max stepped up to her, and crossed his arms. "Judy, its time for therapy."
"Therapy?" She said, dismissively. "I don't need therapy."
"Yeah, you do." Nick said, turning to her. "You're acting crazy, you need to go back to normal."
"This is the new normal!" She said, standing up on the couch. "This is me, and you have to deal with it!"
"You're acting like a child." Max scolded. The rabbit proved his point by sticking her tongue out at him. "Act like an adult."
"Why are you guys trying to ruin my fun!?"
"Because beating up innocent civilians isn't good!" Nick shouted. "Why can't you get that through your-"
Suddenly, the Zoolizers started beeping loudly. "Oh, isn't this just great!?" Nick nearly screamed.
"But we beat the monster, how did…?"
"Who cares!?" Judy shouted, bursting up into the air. "We get to fight stuff!" She quickly dashed off the couch, and out the door.
Nick got up, flinching a bit. "Seriously, are you alright?" Max asked again. "Because that wasn't an alright motion."
"I. Am. FINE." He said, harshly. He headed out the door as well.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Max whispered to himself, before following after his partners.
The porcupine monster stomped through the ruins of the block outside of ZNN. Flipped over cars, ruined buildings, it was horrific. "This is my territory, you animals!" Marashiya shouted, scaring away a few remaining civilians.
He glanced around, and spun his neck. "Feels good to be out again."
"Hey, pointy!"
"Oh, here we go!" The monster said. He didn't even look towards the direction of the voice, and pointed his gun arm. He fired a round of needles towards the direction of the voice.
"Hey!" Blue yelped as she jumped out of the way. "You're not even gonna pay attention to me?"
"Why should I?" Marashiya asked. "Its not like you can beat me, no matter how much you want to."
"Oh yeah!?" She said, dashing up to the monster. She leaped into the air, preparing to deliver a kick. The monster raised its gun arm, blocking it, and flicking the rabbit back.
She landed on her feet, sliding up next to the other Zoorangers. "Hey, pokerface," Red started, stepping forward. "How are you alive? I'm pretty certain we destroyed you."
"How the hell should I know?" It said. "Let's fight for real, already!" he quickly aimed his gun arm at them, and fired a round of spines at them. The Rangers quickly dodged out of the way, before the spikes erupted into a massive explosion.
Red and Silver ran up to the monster, attempting to strike it with their weapons. The porcupine quickly blocked each swipe with its massive arm, and then spun around knocking the two away.
Blue ran up next, daggers drawn. She jumped into the air, and slashed at the monster with them, though it continued to block. It smacked the rabbit up into the air, and fired a round of needles at her. The needles stabbed and grazed her, emitting a burst of sparks from each one. She fell to the ground, leaving a crack, but got up quickly.
"That didn't hurt!" She said, grinding her teeth. It pretty obviously hurt her.
She dropped the daggers, and rushed at the monster for a third time. "How many times is this gonna take, rabbit!?" Marashiya yelled. He effortlessly smacked the rabbit away again.
"STOP IT!" Red yelled, rushing over to the rabbit as she prepared to attack again. He grabbed her by the ears. "You're going to get yourself killed!"
"Yeah, you can't take him by yourself." Silver said. "We still need to work as a team."
"I don't wanna work with you party poopers!" She said with a huff. "I wanna do it myself!"
"Well, you can't!" Red said. He spun her around, and gripped onto her shoulders. He glared at her for a moment, everything going silent. Tears started to well up in the fox's eyes, but he tried to hide it as best as he could. He whispered something, his voice shaking.
"Please. Just go back to normal. I just want my family back."
The rabbit's visor flashed purple for a second, before she started shrieking in pain. She pushed the fox back, and fell to her knees. She punched herself in the head a few times, and got back up without saying a word.
"Huh, you're pretty interesting, rabbit." Marashiya said. "You got a lot of Bestial Qi in you."
"Bestial Qi?" Silver said. "That doesn't sound like a good thing."
"Bestial Qi is the energy us Beastmen get by causing fear." Chaos Marashiya said. "Your rabbit bud's got a surplus in her, must be pretty powerful."
"That must be it!" Red said. "When Blue got attacked before, she must have been infused with that Bestial… whatever!"
"We just need to get it out of her somehow." Silver looked over at the monster. "Thanks for telling us that!"
"Yeah, like you guys know how to get rid of Bestial Qi Infusion." He laughed. "You'll never be able to work as a team again!"
The monster dashed at the three. He ignored Blue, who continued to stand still, and continued to the other two. He swung his large gun hand at them, which Silver managed to block. The wolf thrust his blade forward, knocking the monster back. Red leaped into the air, and slashed at the monster's hairdo, knocking it back even more.
"We're going to get her back to normal!" Nick yelled. "And you can't stop us!"
All three were startled as Blue let out a sudden roar, and quickly dashed forward. "I DON'T WANT TO!" She yelled, delivering a powerful kick right to the fox's face. He flew through the air, and crashed into the ground.
"RED!"
Silver turned to the rabbit, who's visor was continuing to glow purple. "I like feeling this powerful." She said, in a hoarse voice. "I've never felt like this before!"
"See?" Marashiya said, stepping next to the rabbit. "She's a real Predatory Fist user at this point. I know, why don't we become a gang?"
"What?" Silver said.
"I can make you all powerful." The monster started. "Watch this!" It held up its gun arm, which started to glow purple. "PREDATORY PORCUPINE FIST, BESTIAL QI INJECTION!"
He aimed the gun at the recovering fox, and fired a single, glowing needle. It struck him in the back, and vanished.
"That move infuses whoever it hits with Bestial Qi." Marashiya explained. "Once someone is given a taste of its power, its hard to just give up."
Red started to convulse on the spot, beginning to glow purple. He couldn't let this happen. He couldn't lose everything because of a goddamn news reporter.
At that moment, the weight of everything hit him at the same time. Losing Judy, his broken rib, the dark power suddenly coursing through him… It was enough to drive someone crazy.
He let out a massive growl as the purple energy turned black.
"Oh no!" Silver shouted. He quickly turned to the porcupine monster, who seemed to be stepping back in fear. "You idiot! You have no idea what you just did!"
"The power…" The monster muttered to itself. "What is that?!"
"SAVAGE ON"
The black energy dispersed in a massive wave as the monstrous fox spun around. It then reeled back in, seeming to absorb into his body. "Mmm, this feels good." Savage said to himself. "I just need a bit more…"
He quickly glanced at the terrified rabbit. His toothy maw turned into a grin as he walked over to her. "So, rabbit," He started. "I hear you've gotten a bit of a new lease on life."
She stood there as Savage walked around her. No one dared to go near him.
"You like fighting, right?" he asked, gripping onto her shoulders from behind. "Hurting people? Bringing them to near death?"
"I…"
"There's no shame in admitting it, Carrots." He laughed. "Its something everyone wants to do deep down. I should know."
She was tensing up.
"You and I have the power to ruin this world." He continued. "So why don't you just accept it? If Nick didn't accept it, I wouldn't be here."
She clenched a paw. "Nick wouldn't do that." She said. "Nick wouldn't hurt anyone."
"Then what about you?" He continued. "I thought you two were friends, closer than friends, even. He doesn't seem to like your behavior."
He continued to snake around her. "So, Fluff, what is it?" He asked. "You said this is the new you. And the new you…" He leaned in closer to her ear. "Is certainly a. Lot. Like. ME."
She clenched both fists and delivered a punch to Savage. "I'll never be like you!" She shouted. She let out a yell, a pulse of purple energy shooting out from her. The force of the blast knocked everyone, except for Savage, down.
"Ah, like a good wine!" He said as the energy seemed to flow into him.
Blue collapsed. Silver ran up to her. "You alright?"
"Silver?" She said, weak and confused. "What are…?" She saw Savage. "WHAT'S HE DOING HERE!?"
"Wait, can you remember anything?" The wolf asked.
"I remember being attacked by a monster on top of the ZNN studio." She said. "Nothing after that. Seriously, what's going on?"
"Oh, you know, big climatic monster fight." He said. "Savage is here, like usual."
"I really wouldn't call that the usual."
"Sorry for my brief appearance today!" Savage suddenly cried out. "But I have big, big, BIG things to prepare for, and I'd like you all to be prepared." He gave a quick salute. "Ciao!"
There was another burst of dark energy, as Red turned back to normal. "RED!" Blue yelled, running over and hugging him.
"You back, Carrots?" He said, a bit weakly.
"Did I go somewhere?"
"We'll talk about this later." He said, standing up fully. "We have a real monster to deal with."
She glanced over at Chaos Marashiya. "So, do we know what this guy's about?" She asked.
"He shoots needles out of his horrifyingly malformed arm." Red explained. "Got an idea?"
"Well, I feel like the answer's pretty obvious." She shrugged. She quickly pulled out her Rabblasters, and twirled them on her gloved digits. "Fight firepower with firepower."
"Oh, that's a good one." Red said, pulling out the Vickscannon.
"Alright, looks like everything's back on track!" Silver said, quickly tapping Red on his helmet. "Told you everything would be sorted out." He quickly spun the guard on his Eclipse Thruster, changing it to Sun Mode.
The three aimed their weapons at the porcupine monster, and fired them off all at once, rapidly. The force of the continuous blows launched the monster through the air, crashing through a nearby building.
"Stupid animals!" It shouted as it stumbled out of the ruins. "I'll make you pay for this!" The monster fired out rounds from its gun arm, crating a massive burst of explosions in front of the three.
The porcupine monster chuckled, and stepped out completely. Without warning, the three Zoorangers leaped through the air, the Zookaiser formed. They landed, jabbing the monster with the blades on its front.
The three yelled at the same time as they pulled the trigger, firing a blast directly into the monster's stomach. In a few seconds, the porcupine was filled with energy, and burst into a massive explosion.
The three watched as a small grey statue flew through the air, and broke apart as it hit the ground. The explosion cleared, leaving behind an unconscious porcupine.
"That was incredibly satisfying." Red said with a sigh of relief.
"You guys are really going to have to explain everything to me." Blue said. "How much did I miss?"
"To give you the short story," Silver started. "The monster pumped you full of evil energy, and turned into a… uh…"
"A very violent child." Red said, incredibly bluntly. "You beat up at least fifty different mammals last night."
"Yikes." She said. "I don't think I want to know any more."
"Alright guys, let's get ready." Silver started. The three watched as a red object flew into the sky, and then off into the horizon. Chaos Marashiya reappeared, and let out a roar.
The three summoned their mechs, the two stomping towards the porcupine. "I'm going to tear your machines down you pansies!" it threatened, rushing towards the two robots.
"Oh yeah, like hell you will!" Red mocked. "Let's combine them up, guys!"
The two robots smacked the porcupine away simultaneously, and then leaped into the air. The three robots reconfigured and combined together.
"ZOOROBO OH KAMI!"
"Guys like you really need a hair cut!" Blue joked. The massive robot rapidly slashed at the porcupine monster. Once the robot finished, it kicked the porcupine off.
"What did you do to me!?" the monster shouted as it got up. The monster's body was completely smooth, no spines left on it, including on his gun. It tried to fire out of its gun arm, but only the sound of empty clicks came out.
"Man, I love when these fights go quickly!" Red cheered.
"SOLAR ECLIPSE DESTROYER!"
The super robot slashed both of its blades down, shooting off two energy waves. It then slashed them horizontally, unleashing two more. The four waves crashed into the monster's body, before exploding.
"NOW THAT STINGS!" The monster yelled as it sparked and crackled with energy. It quickly exploded, ZooRobo Oh Kami turning around and striking a pose.
"Nature, defended!" Blue cheered.
"And so, Charles Spikerton was apprehended by the authorities, and I got my job back." Moosebridge said.
"I guess what we can all learn from this," Emily started. "Is that power does truly corrupt."
"Honestly, I'm just happy a scandal didn't come from this!" Moosebridge laughed. "In other news, the mysterious rabbit assailant that was reported to have attacked over fifty mammals last night, has not been seen, or identified."
Nick flicked off the TV, and rubbed his head. "All's well that ends well, huh?" He laughed, before letting out a groan.
"I can't believe I did all that." Judy groaned. "That was terrible."
"You don't know how happy I am that it was just brainwashing." Nick said. "Imagine if that was how you actually felt."
"I would never want to hurt anyone, you know that." She said. "I don't even like hurting the monsters…"
Nick nodded. "You're too cute to harm anyone intentionally." Judy quickly jabbed her fist into the fox's side, causing him to let out a sharp yelp.
"Whoops."
"You love that one, don't you?" He laughed, before letting out another groan.
"You feeling alright?" She asked. "You've been making a lot of pain noises for the last few hours."
"Just a bad headache." He said.
"Have you taken any ibuprofen?" She asked. He nodded. "How much?"
"More than I probably should have." He said. "Hasn't calmed it down at all, but I am very tired."
She rolled her eyes. "Go to bed, we have work tomorrow." She said. The fox nodded, and slinked off the couch, heading towards his room.
She laughed. That dumb fox, he'd probably feel fine in the morning. Well, hopefully. She didn't want to have to go to work by herself.
The fox flumped down onto his bed, and curled up in the blankets. The headache was terrible, one of the worst he'd ever had. He didn't know how it happened, or why it wasn't going away. It was like a pounding in his mind, something wanting to get out.
He closed his eyes.
They burst open, his vision had turned completely red. Before he could scream, he blinked, and it was normal again.
He gulped, and tried to fall asleep.
"How does something like that even run out of power?" Herder asked himself as he walked around his living room. It was large and well decorated, but pitch black. The deal with the coin had been keeping him up at night for over a week.
He needed to get it working again, or else…
There was the sound of footsteps, ones that weren't his.
The goat lived alone.
He looked into the hall, a glow beginning to emerge from just out of his sight. He was petrified by whatever it was, unable to move no matter how hard he wanted.
The light fully emerged into the room, a massive golden figure wearing ornate armor. "Hello." It greeted, rather gently. "Are you Thomas Herder, head of Zootopia's defence department?"
The goat stuttered for a moment, instead of producing any words.
The creature laughed, and kneeled down. "Rhetorical question." He said. "I know exactly who you are. And I know your current plight."
"You… do?"
"You're looking for a source of power to charge your ultimate weapons, correct?" It asked. Herder gave a weak nod. "I know where you can get the exact power you're looking for."
"Why would you…" He gulped down his fear. "Why would you want to help me? You're one of those monsters."
The monster stood up. "You and I have very common goals, Herder." It said. "This would be beneficial to not just us, but the entire world." The armored creature turned around. "Though, if you don't want my help…"
"No, please!" He said. "Help me, where can I find more of those coins?"
"In the museum." He said, not turning back around. "There's a treasure chest worth of them there. Though, you asking for it would be suspicious." He turned around. "Why don't I get it for you instead?"
"You would do that?" Herder said, surprised. "Who are you?"
"My name is Long." He said. "And trust me, I only have your best interests in mind."
Oooh, cliffhanger! Again!
I may have rushed this one out at the end, but I still feel fairly satisfied with it. I managed to get everything I wanted in there, at least, even if the last fight was fairly short and didn't have much… fighting. And if actual Sentai can have giant fights that last 20 seconds, so can I.
Also, I hope nobody thinks I messed up Judy's personality with this. I was mostly trying to make her out of character for this because it was fun and played into the plot well. Its like the Power Ranger Punks episode, or the Gekiranger episode this is almost entirely a ripoff of. Also, consider this the first part of a three parter.
Next time, you better be ready to count the medals.